Clarke - We read Reds well

Steve Clarke says knowing Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses allowed West Brom to secure an impressive victory in his first game in charge.

Clarke hails Baggies' positivity

West Brom manager Steve Clarke says knowing Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses allowed his side to pull off an impressive 3-0 opening victory in his first Premier League game in charge. Clarke left his role as assistant coach at Anfield earlier in the summer following the dismissal of Kenny Dalglish and succeeded Roy Hodgson as Baggies head coach - his first management position. The boss insists he had not been focusing on Liverpool's game with the players in training ahead of Saturday's encounter, but rather on how Albion could take it apart - something they did effectively at The Hawthorns. He told Sky Sports: "I know the media and everybody wanted to make a big thing about it. "Obviously I know the players at Liverpool but I spent most of this week speaking to my players about what they could do to Liverpool, rather than speaking about what Liverpool were going to do. "We had a good shape to the team. We knew their strengths and their weaknesses. We knew how Liverpool would try to play and we tried to counter that. "All week it's been trying to be really positive and telling the players to go out and express themselves and to make sure that they were a threat going forward and Liverpool were the team that were worried about defending."